Image via Wikipedia
With the Christmas Session upon us, I thought I would take a moment to bring something up. Have you noticed that there seems to be less Christmas decorations up in your neighborhood? I was walking my dog, Ted, the other night and noticed that very few homes were decorated on the outside, no lights, no Santa’s, nothing. The other thing I noticed was the fact that if the house was decorated, they had plenty of Santa’s and poo bears but no nativity. I think I could count on one hand, with fingers left over at the number of nativities I saw. Contrast that to Halloween and all the decorations I saw.
What is going on? Why the lack of decorations?
Well it can’t be that Americans are not religious, over 78% of Americans call themselves religious. It’s not the economy, because if that was the case the same people would not decorate for Halloween. So what is it….?
Political correctness… I think this explains it. People are too scared to offend, many say Happy Holidays out of respect for others views, I say they say it because they are scared of being called a bigot or intolerant. I say, so what, Christmas is a religious holiday, so I say Merry Christmas and God Bless us, one and all! Political correctness can also be blamed for the lack of Nativity‘s I see… It is a shame…
I, for one, find this all to be a tad bit silly… I mean come on, next thing you know we will not call the national Christmas Tree a Christmas Tree, but a Holiday Tree… Oops to late…
How come only the concerns of nonChristians are taken into account, no one seems to be concerned with my views or feelings… As a white, middle class, catholic male, my views seem to carry less weight than my dogs. Yes one person out of many cries “Political Incorrect” and the government and media seem to step in and take action. Is that what we call tolerance? Give me a break!
I think its time us Christians started to fight back… To demand that our rights be respected, and to make others understand that out traditions are as important as there’s and that we have a right to celebrate in the town square, the same right they have by the way. To me, if they wanted to publicly celebrate their Holy days, I say go for it. I would love to see the decorations, to learn their traditions and to take part as best I could.
Being tolerant does not mean giving up your own belief, it means allowing others to believe as they wish. Being tolerant does not mean that I can not celebrate my Holy Days it does not mean that I should feel guilty or uncomfortable in doing so, and no one has the right to force me to suppress my faith.
So once again, Merry Christmas to one and all, and God Bless us, every one!
Paul
An American Point of View 
Personally, political correctness, is akin to restricting Freedom of Speech. IMHO. While some things, many, that people say I do not agree with, such as the KKK, etc….I still believe in the Freedom of Speech. Even, unfortunately, the ugly stuff. I think your observation is pretty close. Altho in my neck of the woods there is still a lot of the nativity scenes, etc… Nice article.
LikeLike
ACK! Forgot, MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🙂
LikeLike
Nice blog Paul! I am the author of the photo gallery “Santa’s In Da House” and just wanted to let you know, that I also have FIVE Nativity scenes in my home as well! And they are the MOST special to me of all my decorations! God bless you and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
LikeLike
As a non-believer who has always said – and still does say – Merry Christmas – I kind of understand – really I do. I don’t say God Bless because I think that is disrespectful of me to say since I don’t believe in the sentiment. I do say thank you to those who wish it because I know it is said out of kindness.
However, if I think back to all the decorations I have seen in my lifetime – and not only is my yard decorated to Griswoldian standards, but many on my street are as well – I will say that placing the nativity outside has never been a common practice. Now, on the mantle or piano or even under the tree? Yes – as in indoor display it is very common among my Christian friends and family.There is one house in town that has always had prominent religious decor outside and they still do again this year.
I think sometimes, we have to be careful about *looking* for reasons to feel discrimination. Quite obviously the reality is that you are not at all – you said it yourself that the majority of the country is of one of the Christian faiths. As a white male Catholic you HAVE to know you are quite far from any minority status just about any way you slice it. I’m sure I qualify as a minority in many more ways 🙂
I do completely agree that all religions should be able to celebrate their Holy Days freely and without guilt.
So to you I wish a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Birthday to your Savior. May the reasons that you celebrate the season fill your heart with warmth and love.
And I will enjoy the beauty of the decorations no matter what their source 🙂
LikeLike
I’m with you on this one!! Blessings and may you have a Merry Christmas!
LikeLike
I’m a devout Christian, one of the pastors at my church (granted it’s Protestant). But I don’t get the idea of demanding our rights to celebrate Christmas to be respected. Celebrating Christmas is not mandated, or even suggested, in the Bible. It wasn’t widely celebrated until the 4th century, and the Puritans actually outlawed it. So why do we have the right to get so defensive about it?
Even if we do have the right, Christians are called to surrender our rights … not fight for them. Have you ever thought of 1 Corinthians 9:13-23 applying to this? Paul was talking about having a wife and collecting a paycheck, but if he had a “right” to those, we certainly have the “right” to fight for Christmas. Like Paul, I would rather surrender my “right” to Christmas than lose an opportunity to share the gospel. The gospel is offensive enough without us getting mad at someone for not liking Christmas. I would rather pick my battles. Just a thought, I’m interested in yours too.
LikeLike
It’s about our American right our right to deliberate. You are correct, Christmas was outlawed at one time, but that has nothing to do with what I am talking about….
LikeLike